Dragon Chronicles: Dyhokan Gakuen of Dragon Arts
by Kalshion
Summary: The twins are starting up their new school in a mysterious, unknown dimension within the MGLN Universe. If only they had known that an old enemy from their past would return to haunt them. Please R&R. Chap 3 is up.
1. New Arrivals

There have always been dimensions untouched by man; areas left shrouded in mystery and their secrets hidden to man. In one of these dimensions, rests a star system rests untouched, untamed by humans. Planets of mysterious characteristics orbit their parent sun, while moons half their own size orbit them.

In one corner of this star system, a tear in space erupts. At first, nothing happens as space is apparently ignoring the opening. Then a ship begins to emerge, its elongated bow piercing the darkness and moving outward of the opening, the edges of the dimensional opening shifts between a cool purple to a hot yellow every few seconds.

As the ship slowly made its way out into space its main body then appears, then a few seconds later the rest of the ship appears in space, floating harmlessly and on no apparent course. Then, as if by command, more tears appear and several more ships come out into space. Most appear to be smaller than the first, while others appear to be longer.

"Status?" A young man said aboard the lead ship. He wore a kimono that was adorned with dragon runes, his face was clean, and his hair was black. Both of his eyes were green, along the right side of his waist was a belt, and on that belt was a long sword.

On his back was a holder for a staff, the staff was short compared to his height. He was five feet, six inches tall. He wore a pair of glasses that were clear, so clear in fact, that they weren't prescription based. On the right lens, a small image could be seen and on this image was text that scrolled up as if being moved by invisible hands.

"We are clear sir," a man said who was operating helm. This man was clean-shaven, he wore a typical military uniform and his hair was kept. He turned in his chair to address the young man, "Admiral?" he said.

The young man nodded and pushed his glasses up. "Stay your course," he ordered and turned to the woman next to him. Unlike him, she wore a more 'revealing' outfit. Her outfit was akin to that of a medieval knight, with the differences being that some parts of her leg, chest and arms were showing. She had a collar around her neck with a light blue diamond in the center, her arm guards were black and her boots were blue with orange trim along the edges.

She wore a red cap that came down to her feet, almost dragging across the ground. Like the young man beside her, she also had a sword but this was on the left side of her belt.

"What do you think sis?" Kalshion, the young man, asked his sister.

Katarina, Kalshion's twin sister, placed her finger up to her chin and glanced down at the deck plates. "Just from what we can see, this system seems barren," she said and looked up at the ceiling. "Sharia!" she shouted.

In front of the twins a bluish figure appeared. Data comprised her body as symbols, letters and numbers circled, forming her. "Yes?" she asked, her voice didn't sound like a computer, but like an actual human being.

"Scan the system for habitable planets, also include uninhabitable planets as well," Katarina ordered. Sharia bowed and then disappeared. The twins stood there, pondering what to do in the mean time, but they barely had time to walk away when her figure reappeared. "Done," she said.

Sharia reveled in how she always bewildered the twins; she had enjoyed every minute of it since they created her. She herself was an AI construct, but she wasn't restricted to just this ship but had freedom to move from ship to ship and do whatever she pleased. In the short amount of time it took for the twins to register a look of confusion, she had not only scanned the planets but also most of the star system and registered every object that floated in this area of space.

The twins stared blankly at her, "that quick?" they both asked her. She just smiled at them and turned toward the holographic tank that was in the center of the massive command deck. The command deck itself was large compared to other ships; the holographic tank was the center of the deck, with various consoles arranged around it. Each console handled a different type of ship system.

Near the top of the tank and just in front of it was helm control while to the sides of the tank were weapons and behind it were the twins were standing, was the command chair and several other consoles.

The tank warmed and then came to life. A yellowish orb appeared in the center of the tank, then, thirteen smaller orbs came into existence around the center orb, they rotated slowly around the orb. Red circles then appeared around four planets while blue circles appeared around four other planets. Finally, five green circles appeared around the remainder of the planets.

"Sharia, your recommendation?" Kalshion asked as he stared at holographic display. As he did so the central orb went from being a measly yellow ball to actually being a sun. Like-wise, the outlying orbs were also detailed, some were orange balls depicting them as gas giants. Others were even more detailed, the remainder for example had lush green landscapes painted on them.

Sharia looked across the planets and then pointed at two of them; the display promptly highlighted these planets and enlarged them. "The fourth and ninth planets from the sun, the fourth planet has property's equal to that of this node's dimensional earth. While the ninth planet is mostly a water ball," Sharia said while staring at the planets, she cleared her throat, despite being a computer, before continuing. "Scan's show no intelligent life present in this system, as well as, no harmful gases," she said, turning toward the twins.

Katarina thought about, "engage ninth planet, give me a planetary map," she said. The rest of the planets suddenly flickered out of existence, with just the ninth one remaining. As it spun slowly, the display then enlarged itself onto a portion of the planet. "Water is right," Katarina said as she stared at it, "no land?"

"The planet is ninety five percent water and only five percent land," Sharia said and folded her arms over her chest, as if she was insulted by Katarina's question.

"I see…" The young girl and brought her hands down to her side, she glanced over at her brother who nodded. "Sharia, would it be possible for us to siphon land from planet to this?" he asked her.

Sharia blinked before taking on a thinking pose. She stood there for several seconds before lifting her head and nodding. "With our current technology it is possible, I'd recommend exploring the other planet first though before considering this one," she suggested.

"Why?" The twins asked, once again in unison. Sharia sighed and turned back to the display, the ninth planet disappeared in its place was the fourth planet. "My scans detected passages underground, not sure if they were made by a race long extinct or perhaps naturally, but I do suggest you search them first since they cress cross the entire planet," Sharia said and continued to stare the image.

"That's odd… " she said and turned to her side. A crewmember operating the op's station turned toward her, "ops, scan the surface for me please, utilize the gamma and delta algorithm and tell me what you find," she said and folded her arms.

Operations nodded and the crewman turned back to his display and went to work."While we wait for the results," Kalshion said, breaking the silence that had dropped down over them. "Sharia, show me the two gas giants," he said.

The holographic display changed to show the two gas giants. "Just from a cursory scan, I can confirm that each gas giant as the minerals we need to operate in this sector of space. While we can create anti-matter thanks to the way our reactors are designed, this fuel is also compatible with our ships engines," Sharia said, smiling. "I'd recommend refining facilities be placed in low orbit," she said.

Kalshion nodded and turned toward communication. "Rena, contact the commanders for Alpha and Beta construction fleets, order them to jump into system and begin construction on gas refining facilities," Kalshion ordered. Rena, a girl who appeared to be only thirteen, nodded and was about to relay the order when she removed her headset. "Suggestion sir?"

"Alright," Kalshion said and turned his body toward her. "Have Alpha and Beta worked on one refinery at a time, it'll get the job done quicker," Rena suggested.

Sharia floated past the twins and nodded. "She's correct," she said. "It would take them only three to five days to complete a single refinery, versus four weeks if they did it alone and under their own power," she said.

"Very well," Kalshion said, impressed by Rena's logic. "Make it so," he said and the young girl nodded and put her headset back on. Katarina smiled and walked toward the door leading off the command deck, "I'm going to put together a science team and head to the fourth planet, you should check out the ninth planet bro and see if there is anything that may interfere with our construction efforts," she said and left the command deck.

"You heard her Sharia, put together a list of crewmen who you feel I should take on this expedition," Kalshion said. Sharia pondered his request and then smiled, "I would recommend you take Communications Officer Rena with you,"

Rena, at the sound of her name, looked up from her console and blinked. "Me?" she said confusingly.

"Why not? There is a reason why you were placed onboard this ship, because of your excellent communication skills in both speech and technology," Sharia said, folding her arms across her chest.

Rena blushed before getting up. "Sir?" she asked, addressing the admiral. Kalshion smiled and walked toward the door. "Get yourself prepared, meet me in hanger bay three in fifteen minutes, Sharia, inform the other crewmen you recommended to also meet me there," Kalshion said. Sharia and Rena both nodded before going to their appointed tasks.

The thirteen year old walked into the elevator, her hands clasped in front of her chest. She glanced at Kalshion, then at the deck, then back at him. "Uhh.. sir, can I ask you something?"

"You already did," he grinned and then placed his hand on her shoulder. "What's on your mind?"

The girl sighed and took in a breath. "Am I the youngest here?" she asked him, it was a straight forward question that made Kalshion stare at her. She felt it was a stupid question though, and had only thought of it out of curiosity. "I mean.. I don't see anyone younger here except me," she added.

He shook his head. "You're not technically the youngest here, I've got crewmen who are only eleven and twelve, but they are few and far between. Most are teenagers like yourself," he said to her. The elevator beeped as it passed the center section of the ship and continued down toward the crew quarters, when it stopped the doors opened to reveal the crew quarters deck.

Rena stepped off the elevator, "thank you sir," she said to Kalshion before making her way to her quarters. The doors soon closed and the elevator continued down to the hanger bay.

The bay was a bustle of activity. Shuttles were being prepped for launch, with fighter craft beside them being readied in the event of a combat action. "Sir!" The flight officer said when he noticed Kalshion walking across the deck. "My shuttle ready?" he asked the officer.

"It is sir," the officer said and handed him a clipboard. "Perfect, I want two squads of marines to accompany my sisters group," he ordered.

"Already done sir," the flight officer said and turned toward a group of marines who were boarding a drop ship. "Your sister insisted on going with the marines so I couldn't stop here," he sighed and turned his attention back to the shuttle that he and Kalshion were heading toward.

The shuttle didn't look like a normal bulky craft, it was sleek, elongated much like the ship itself was. Its wings were swept back; it hovered in the air thanks to its anti-gravity drives. As Kalshion approached the back a door suddenly appeared on the hull and slid apart, revealing the interior.

He was about to get onboard when a suddenly a loud noise in the bay, causing him to stop and turn toward the location of where the sound came from. Both of the drop ships wing engines came to life, fire erupting outward and toward the deck plating. The ship lifted off the deck turned toward the energy field that was over the open bay doors, outside was nothing more than blackness, vast space and ever quiet.

"Drop Ship Gamma, you're clear for launch. Good Luck," someone in the tower said over the bay PA. The pilots gave a curt salute as they leveled the engines with the rest of the ship and then brought them to full power.

The craft flew through the energy barrier and out into space, then arced itself toward the fourth planet from the sun. The massive command ship was between the fourth and ninth planets, allowing for equal flight time.

"Time to planet?" Katarina asked, she was sitting in the passenger side seat in the cockpit. Beside her was the co-pilot and in front of him was the pilot.

"At our current space," the pilot said and looked at his calculation, "two hours," he said.

"To slow, engage warp drives," Katarina ordered and soon the drop ship disappeared.

Back aboard the command ships hanger bay. Kalshion was waiting patiently for the rest of his team, most had arrived but he was missing toward members, behind him, sitting down on one of the shuttles ten seats, Rena was fiddling around with a communications device.

"I should be able to boost the range," she said as she removed the back cover and inspected the circuitry. "Ughs….." she sighed in disappointment when she realized just how much of a pain it would be.

Unbeknown to her, Kalshion chuckled when he heard her disappointing sigh. "Those two better get here soon," he said and looked at his wristwatch. Then, as if on cue, the elevator on the far end opened to reveal his two missing crewmembers. They ran the length of the bay toward the shuttle and got on board, "sorry were late admiral," one of the two said as they took a seat.

Kalshion shook his head, closed the hatch, and walked through a set of doors that lead into the cockpit. There he found a young woman manning the co-pilots seat, she looked to be around nineteen years of age and wore different version of the military uniform.

"You ready Sasha?" Kalshion asked her. The woman nodded and flipped several switches on a console above her, outside the cockpit windows a reddish field could be seen appearing along the shuttles hull. "Ready," she said and placed her hands on the controls.

The gravity engines came to life, spinning the shuttle around and moving it slowly toward the barrier and then out into space where the primary engines came online. The shuttle accelerated through space and under the command ship, heading toward the ninth planet.

"Engage warp," he said to Sasha. The shuttle lurched forward as it opened a tear in space and soon disappeared into warp. "Sir, a question, this is the same node that you and Katarina came to awhile back right?"

"To settle a certain problem, yes," Kalshion said as he monitored the warp field. "Sis and I were nearly killed that time, but we managed to save several high ranking TSA officials. That's why we are here and allowed to operate out of this dimension," he said to her.

Sasha nodded. "I see, well then, may I ask another question?"

"Go ahead," he said.

"This place your building, is it open to everyone?" Sasha asked and glanced at a console panel.

Kalshion smiled. "If you're asking that can also attend it, then yes, everyone will be allowed," he said and let out a sigh.

"I thought you already had Dyhokan Academy up elsewhere though?" Sasha asked.

"Star Ocean Dimension, Elicoor Four." Kalshion said turned toward her, "however we've run into some problems now with the Pangalactic Federation and there seems to be a war brewing between several groups and I don't want my students to get caught in this war. That's why I petitioned the TSA for permission to build my families school here," he said.

Sasha nodded. "I see…" she said, "I have no more question's sir."

Kalshion laughed. "Nothing wrong with asking questions Lieutenant, you do remember that you can from the same school as did everyone else aboard the command ship," he said. Sasha nodded and then smiled, "it's strange though, we've been to many different nodes and dimensions, people have always found it odd that children are in commanding positions aboard our ships," she said.

"Not really 'children' because don't forget, you have to be thirteen to be allowed a position aboard our ships. Exceptions can be made for some of our younger prodigies, like Rena, who's been a member of our crew for four years," Kalshion said and stopped what he was doing. "You're worried about a temporal paradox aren't you?"

"I've read the reports sir, at most there are two or three nodes that are exactly alike in what's inside, but different events occur," Sasha said, "however, this node, the FHG-2873 is unique in that only one exists,"

Kalshion's eyes narrowed, he could sense the nervousness and fear in her tone. "Are you worried that an event will occur that'll cause a paradox? I wouldn't, it's hard for a temporal paradox to occur especially since there's no grounds for it in this dimension."

"How do you know?" Sasha asked now curious.

He shook his head and turned toward her. He placed his palm right side up, suddenly an image appeared in his palm. "FHG-2873 is in complete synchronization with the Matrix, meaning, that its not possible for a temporal paradox to occur because time travel is equally as impossible due to the synchronization," he said.

Sasha blinked. "Uhh.. ok…" she said. Sasha was only a first year college student and had only just started temporal mechanics at Dyhokan Academy's university. She hadn't yet learned how a temporal paradox works, or what causes them, in a way though she felt that Kalshion himself didn't truly understand. But merely was basing his facts off of experience.

"Approaching destination," the onboard computer said. Kalshion smiled and turned back toward the view screen, "let's see what we can find… " he said.

**Author Notes: Information related to the story itself can be found in my profile, please look for 'Dyhokan Gakuen of Dragon Arts'. **


	2. Planetary Research P1

**Chapter 1**

_Planetary Research Part 1_

As her dropship came out of warp the planet came into view; just from orbit it was easy to identify the lush forests that were plain to see from orbit. Even from their stand point the vegetation spread across the planet.

On the ground, animals made their daily rounds searching for food and shelter for the coming night, however, the quiet, peaceful, nature was suddenly interrupted when the whirling sound of an engine penetrated the tranquility.

Katarina's marine drop ship descended toward the ground, it's engines struggling for some unknown reason. Klaxons blurred as the onboard AI fought to keep the ship aloft. "What's wrong?" she asked the pilot who was mulling over the data that was being presented to him over his helmets HUD (Heads Up Display).

"There's something in the air that's interfering with the engines, whatever it is is 'sticking' to the intake ports and making it difficult for us to get any lift… permission to switch to gravity drives?" he asked. "Granted," Katarina said.

The drop ship suddenly lost altitude as its gravity drives engaged and leveled the craft. Katarina could hear two people in the passenger compartment barfing into bags, she shook her head. "You send them through atmospheric training and it still doesn't prepare them for the real things," the pilot said, taking the words right out of Katarina's mouth.

"Find us a clearing Sergeant," Katarina ordered and glanced at a display to hear right. The display had a direct live feed from the crafts nose mounted camera, data scrolled along the sides. As the craft flew over the forest and toward the ocean, the sergeant smiled when he saw clearing. He maneuvered the drop ship around and was about to land when his console beeped a warning.

"Ma'am, ground beneath us is unstable," the sergeant said and awaited her response. "No problem, lower ramp, we'll disembark. Stay in the area and run continuous scans of the region," Katarina ordered. The marine nodded and wished her good luck as she exited the cockpit and went into the passenger compartment.

"Alright kids," she said to the passengers, while most weren't 'kids' per say, she still used the word. "We can't land this bucket of bolts-"

"HEY!" the pilot shouted over the comm. headset, Katarina just smiled and ignored his comment and continued, "-instead we'll be disembarking while just a few inches from the ground," just then the ramp opened to reveal the terrain below.

The marines hefted their rifles and disembarked first, after scanning the area with both their eyes and their armors sensor systems they gave a thumbs up to Katarina and her science team. They all jumps out of the drop ship, Katarina felt the ground give way just a bit as she landed. She glanced at it for a second but put it aside, she figured it was normal.

Rico, one of the members of the science team, removed her pack and checked it's contents. Rico was the youngest on the team; she was only ten years old but was considered very smart in her field of expertise. Her pack was light compared to everyone else's, but what she lacked in physical strength she made up for in her scientific knowledge.

She removed a scanner from the pack and flipped it on. The scanner beeped several times, indicating it had three days of consumable power. "Scanner online," she said over her headset. She heard an audible 'click' indicating that Katarina had heard her.

"Let's see," she said and stood up, scanning the area around her. "Nothing out of the ordinary, the ground does seem strange though. I can't get an accurate reading unless we bury a sensor," she said. She heard a marine chuckle, which got her attention. "Something funny?" she asked him, slightly perturbed by the marines lack of professionalism.

The marine shook his armored head. "I just find it amusing that we have a damn ten year old with us," he said and hefted his rifle onto his shoulder. Rico grumbled, her eyes twitching, "what? You think I should've stayed back at the school?"

"Exactly, we don't need little grade school kids to babysit," the marine said. His fellow comrades all nodded. Rico could tell they were conversing amongst each other, and it annoyed her that she couldn't hear them.

As she watched the marines she heard a heavy, almost angry, sigh over the headset. This apparently made the marines nervous as they turned toward the only person who could give such a sigh. Katarina turned toward the marine who had spoken to her and walked slowly toward him.

Rico watched Katarina as she approached the marine, she herself backed away knowing what was about to happen. "You have a problem with the people I choose for my team, PRIVATE?" she said, emphasizing his rank. "Uhh," the marine gulped, even though it couldn't be seen. "N-no ma'am, it's just that.. well…" he tried to defend himself but Katarina's glare made him stutter and unable to finish.

"The next marine that decides to crack an insult toward our youngest member will find themselves on the wrong end of a gravity blast, got it?" She said her voice cold and hateful. The marines all nodded and apologized to Rico. Who looked away and folded her arms, she wasn't accepting their apology that easily.

Katarina waved her hand, indicating that it was best to continue. Rico put her backpack back on and followed the female admiral as they traversed the open field and through the forest. Three marines took up the front while three others took up the back; two more marines flanked either side of the group.

As they made their way through the forest, Rico continued her scanning. "Ma'am, there's a cave roughly a hundred and twenty feet, east north east of us," Rico said as she read the data from the scanner. Katarina didn't say a word as the group changed directions and soon came upon the cave opening.

Like any normal cave, it was in the side of a mountain. The difference however was noticeable, a strange bluish liquid dripped from the top of the opening. "Interesting," Rico said as she approached the opening and brought her scanner up. The scanner wasn't able to scan it, instead listing it as an 'unknown' material.

"Marines, lights on, time to search these caves," Katarina said as she engaged the small light on her headset. This light, while small, easily illuminated their path. As they entered, the cave they noticed that the light was being reflected off of something on the cave walls, not only that, but the group felt like they were walking on water or something sticky.

Katarina stopped and ran her hand across the ground. She noticed a substance stick to her glove, she brought the subspace up to her face and took a whiff. "Rico, assessment?" she asked. The young girl knelt down and ran her hand through the substance, "yucky…." She said. Katarina smiled and turned toward her, "Ok… how about a scientific assessment instead?" she grinned.

Rico blushed, unaware that she had just used a word normally associated with children of her age to describe things that looked disgusting. She brought the scanner to the ground and left it there for a few seconds before data appeared, "It's…. saliva… mineral proteins… and other compounds," she said.

The marine all looked at each other and down at their boots. "Shit… that means I'll be cleaning this crap out of my boots for days to come," the marine complained. Katarina shook her head and got up and looked around. "Could this mean there is possible life?" Rico asked herself as she got up.

"Rico, could this substance have blocked our sensors?" Katarina asked her. Rico brought a finger up to her chin and thought about it. "It's possible, there were trace amounts of an unknown mineral in the scan, it's possible that mineral was blocking the-" she said before her scanner gave off a proximity alert.

Weapons were raised when the marines heard the alert, they formed a ring around the science team. Rico knelt down and opened the scanner. "Got movement, below us," she said and looked around. "Whatever it is is moving fast, at least two km's an hour," Rico brushed her hair aside as she continued to monitor the tracking data.

"So, there is life here," A marine grumbled as she scanned the tunnels. It was then that the tunnels shook violently, the marines along with Rico and Katarina managed to keep their balance as the shaking continued for several seconds before stopping. "What was that about?" Rico wondered just as the ground several feet from them crumbled.

The marines all turned their weapons toward the opening, what appeared next sent fear through Rico. A large, worm like insect protruded from the opening. Several arm like appendages extruded from it's body and slivered across the ground. Katarina stared at the worm and realized it's intent, "Marines fire!" she shouted.

Red light illuminated the cave as the marine's laser rifles came to life, peppering the worm with laser fire. However, the worm didn't seem fazed as one of its arms wrapped around a marine and pulled him toward itself, sucking him into its mouth. A dreadful scream could be heard as the marine was torn apart within the worm's stomach.

The other marines didn't show any fear as they continued to fire. "That's the only way out right Rico?" Katarina asked the young girl, but got no answer, she noticed the girl was deeply fearful. _I forgot, Rico come's from a world where these types of insects are almost always attacking and killing her people. If I'd known these things were here I would've left her back on the command ship. _Katarina though, realizing Rico's worm-like phobia.

"Laser's are ineffective!" A marine shouted as the worm slowly emerged from the opening and began to slowly make it's way toward the ground. Katarina let out a sigh; she rolled her hand into a fist. A redish aura began to cover it; flames suddenly appeared and danced around her fist. "Marines! DUCK!" she shouted as she brought her arm back, then flung it forward, releasing a massive ball of superheated energy.

The heat emanating from the ball of energy burned away the saliva on the cave walls as it flew by the marines and into the worm. Its skin bubbled and boiled until the worm was blown apart, piece of it's skin flew in every which direction, blood peppering the cave walls. The marines scanned the area and let out a sigh of relief when they saw no more hostiles.

"We're leaving," Katarina said as she picked Rico up, the girl had fallen unconscious due to her phobia. A marine walked over and picked up her science pack. The group walked through the carnage left by Katarina's energy blast, stopping only briefly to pick up a pair of dog tags that had survived the explosion.

As they made their way out of the tunnels, the proximity alarm once again went off. Katarina looked at it and noticed nine incoming targets, "Marines! Huff it!" she shouted as she ran toward the cave exit and soon out into the forest. "Drop ship emergency beam out now!" Katarina shouted as the ground beneath her began to crumble apart.

The next thing she knew she was onboard the drop ship in the passenger compartment. The marine let out a sigh of relief as they placed their rifles on the weapons rack. Katarina herself placed Rico on the seats and then walked into the cockpit. She looked out the cockpit windows, below them the worms were angry, wondering where their 'pray' had disappeared to. "We'll be back later to deal with this nuisance…" Katarina scowled as she took a seat. "Set a course for the command ship. Even if these worms weren't living here, we can't use this planet due to the unstable terrain," she said.

"Yes Ma'am," the sergeant said before an alarm sounded in the cockpit. He had barely enough time to look up before the drop ship was violently rocked; the left wing was torn away as a strange blast of energy severed it from the hull.

"Can't… maintain.. altitude.." the sergeant shouted as he struggled with the controls. The ship arced upward before turning toward the ground, "everyone brace for impact!" Katarine shouted as she found her seat and buckled herself him.

The drop ship hit the ground with a resounding 'thud' but it didn't stop moving, instead it continued through the soft earth and through several tunnels until it's motion was finally stopped when it hit a patch of earth that was solid.

Her vision was blurred and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. "Ooooh…" she said in pain as she blinked and glanced about the cockpit. She could tell she needed medical attention by how she couldn't see through her left eye as it was covered in blood.

"You alright ma'am?" she heard the sergeant say. "I'll be fine.. .what about everyone else?" she asked as she unbuckled herself and got up, "couple injuries, the passenger compartment was split open. Most of the marines are ok, but Rico was seriously wounded in the crash," he said.

"How bad?" Katarined asked him. "She has a concussion, medical scans also show she has severe internal bleeding, she's needs emergency treatment but we don't have the facilities," he said. Katarina just nodded, "Send out a distress call, and keep an eye out for those worms… something tells me they are attracted by sound.." she said.

As she stood there, staring at the broken cockpit, she sighed and said to herself. "I should've stayed in bed…"

**Author Note – Thank you to those who've added this story, or plan to add this story, to their favorite/watch list. I'll try and keep it up-to-date as much as possible.**** As always, if you have questions, concerns, or advice****do not**** hesitate to message me via PM system, or find me on MSN.**


	3. Planetary Research P2

The ninth planet from the sun was just a ball of water; its oceans glittered with tranquil beauty. Kalshion found it strangely odd that a planet with almost no land had an atmosphere, odder still was how easily they could descend toward the water. As they crossed the atmosphere, he noted no entry flames, like-wise, no resistance what so ever.

Sasha was equally as dumbstruck as this. The two looked at each other but were unable to figure out what was going on; instead Kalshion aimed the shuttle for the water. With a loud splash, the shuttle ascended toward the ground below.

Fish swam by the shuttles cockpit windows, some apparently curious at the new arrival. "Marine life," Sasha said, as she looked at the shuttles sensors. "Not picking up anything unusu--- wait a minute.. got something.." she said as she tagged it.

Several inches in front of them, a display suddenly appeared showing an object several hundred miles below them. The structure, while just a blurred image, still looked to be technological in nature. Kalshion dipped the shuttle and toward the unknown structure. It would take fifteen minutes before they reached their destination; the structure appeared to be a large cube with no signs of a docking hatch.

As they rounded the structure, they soon discovered a small tube protruding from the hull. They slowly moved up to it and docked, a satisfying 'hiss' could be heard as atmosphere filled the tube. "Stay here," Kalshion said to Sasha as he walked toward the back of the shuttle and opened the hatch. Water dripped from the top of the tube, and the smell of salt water permeated the air.

He examined the tube and smiled when he realized it was safe to enter. He made his way over to the door on the far end. There was a keypad on the door that appeared to be ancient; he noticed that it was no longer active. "Rotted by the salt water," Kalshion said as he removed a device from his pocket and placed it over the pad. "Jerl, hack it," he said.

The device made a small sound as it began to hack the keypad. He waited a few seconds before the doors popped open, but only a few inches. He had to use his hands to open them wide enough for him to go in, once inside he found the place bathed in darkness. He placed his hand on his belt and removed a flash light and turned it on, he scanned the room he was in and found that it was barren.

The next room over was also barren, but the room next to it had a console and several monitors. He walked up to the console and placed his hand on it, nothing happened which made him curious. He flashed his light across the room and found nothing else of interest.

"Sir?" Sasha crackled over his headset. "There's another tube on the southern side of the structure,," she said.

"Why didn't we see it?" Kalshion said as he made his way to that portion of the structure.

"I don't know," Sasha said. "It's possible we just weren't in the correct position to pick it up," she said.

Kalshion just rolled his eyes and kept his pace until he came to the southern portion of the structure, he looked around before finding a window. "No, it's not that we weren't on the right side, it's that the tube is dipped below the structure itself," he said as he peered through the window and at the tube. "It's… a power conduit.." Kalshion said as he knelt down and examined the wiring on his side of the window.

"How can you tell?" Sasha curiously asked.

"Check our sensors we-" he said before something caught his attention. He removed his staff and took a defensive posture, spinning on his heels to present his back to the window. "Sasha, we got company…" he said.

He could hear the hatch onboard the shuttle slam shut, a defensive policy that he had created in the event of a possible hostile. "Who's there?" he shouted as his eyes scanned the room.

It was then that he saw it, a blurred image; he saw several armored figures firing at something. He could see a young girl and another girl behind them. It took him a minute to realize that it was merely a mental image, "false alarm…" he said.

Kalshion scrutinized the image, then shook his head. "I must be drinking too much coffee," he said as he walked back into the main control room, or what he considered the control room. He examined the console and smiled when he figured out what it was. "Ingenious… while the structure appears to be inactive, it's actually a part of a system that keeps the water on the planet.." he said over the headset.

Sasha nodded. "But I thought it was natural?"

"It appears natural, but if I was to take a guess I'd say there are several of these calibration stations located across the planet," he said and continued to examine the console. He then slipped his head when he found a switch underneath it that turned the console on, "stupid…" he said.

"Sir?" Sasha confusing said.

"Nothing, just talking to myself.." Kalshion grumbled as he looked at the data that scrolled across the screen. _Ok__ I was wrong. This is in fact a reactor core for an abandoned city, this __doesn't__ have any bearing on the planets magnetic field or why the water has yet to disappear_ "I was wrong," he said to Sasha. "This is a reactor core… seems there 'used' to be life here but not anymore," he sighed and switched the console off and headed back to the shuttle.

He only got half way before seeing another mental image, this time he could feel pain. He knew of only one reason why he would feel pain when he hadn't done anything, he bolted for the shuttle and close the hatch. "Sir?" Sasha said when she noticed the admirals' worried expression.

Sasha had just enough time to grip the chairs arm holds before Kalshion blew the shuttles ballast and fired the main engines. "Going into warp," he said.

"W-wait! Underwater?!" Sasha complained but it went unheard as a warp bubble appeared around the shuttle, it then disappeared.

Space was torn to shreds at the shuttle craft was spit out into normal space. It's engines emitting an angry flame behind it, it sped toward the fourth planet and ignored the fact that the ship was on a steep reentry vector.

Kalshion had disabled the alarms that would've warned him of any hull breaches and instead continued toward the location of his sisters last reported location. As he flew over the location, his terrain sensors picked up on her destroyed drop ship. "Ten miles below the surface?!" Sasha said in disbelief as she stared at the sensor data.

"Screw it, SHARIA!" Kalshion shouted, a second later her avatar appeared on the holotank. Unlike back on the command ship where she took on a standard appearance, this time she was wearing the female military uniform, her jacket was full of salad dressing, or to put it in simple terms, she had so many medals and ribbons that there was barely enough room for anything else.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice sounding a bit agitated by how Kalshion had demanded her presence. "Scan the planet, you said there were passages right?" Kalshion asked, reconfirming what he heard back on the command ship.

"Yes," Sharia said, folding her arms over her chest. With a heavy sigh she glanced to her side as if looking at something, then a display appeared in front of Kalshion. On the display were a serious of tunnels that Sharia had detected, each one was being scanned to locate a proper path to Katarina. After a minute one passage was highlighted in green, with a blue line running through it to Katarina's crashed ship.

Kalshion smiled. "Perfect," he said as brought the shuttle upward and pointed it's bow toward the ground. "W-w-wait a second!" Sasha shouted when she realized what he was about to do. "You realize the shuttle is NOT rated as a ground hog!" she said histerically as the shuttles four main laser cannons came online.

Sharia let out a sheepish smile. "Good luck!" she waved and disappeared from the holotank. "Hey!" Sasha shouted as the shuttle's four laser cannons spat fourth four globs of energy that burned away the ground, leaving a hole twice the size of the shuttle. "Uhh.. oops.. had it on half power setting," Kalshion said, embarrassed as his mistake.

She blinked. "W-wait a second, if that's HALF power then what will happen at full power?" she asked but then shook her head. "Wait, on second thought, don't tell me!"

Too late, Kalshion switched the power setting to full and was about to fire again when the ground mysteriously 'healed' itself, having sealed the hole he made. "Well damn…" he grumbled and sighed, "oh well, time to take the scenic route," he said. Sasha let out a sigh of relief.

"THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A SCENIC ROUTE?!" Sasha shouted as the shuttle flew down the worm made tunnels, on course for Katarina's position. "You realize these tunnels are just barely big enough for us?!" she asked.

Kalshion nodded and maneuvered every bend and turn. As he approached, Katarina's positioned the motion trackers were picking up a slew of activity both above, below, in front, and behind the shuttle. "Seems I'm drawing a crowd," he said.

"Nah! YA THINK?!" Sasha said, still holding on for dear life.

As he continued down the tunnels, Katarina was busy trying to stabilize Rico. She was by the young girl's side a medical scanner in one hand and a healing device in the other. Rico's eyes fluttered ocean, "how are you doing?" Katarina asked, the question was rhetorical but she making sure that Rico wouldn't fall asleep.

Rico smiled. "F-fine… but my head hurts," she said and tried to bring her hand up but found that it wouldn't respond. She blinked and appeared as if she was trying again, "I-I can't move my arms…." She said in a worried tone.

Katarina sighed. "Hun… You've sustained serious injury in the crash," she said. She knew lying to the girl wasn't a good idea, as Rico was rather sensitive to certain matters, mostly those that included her own health. Rico wanted to cry, and in doing so, felt pain as the tears appeared in her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

The marine medic walked over to her and shook her head. "We're losing her ma'am, unless we get help soon-" the marine said before Katarina interrupted her. "Stow it marine, she'll live.." she said and raised Rico's head a bit. She brought a cloth around and wiped the tears from her face, her tears were a mixture of water and blood, what made the girl hurt just by crying was that she also had internal eye injury – the girl couldn't see a thing due to the crash.

As Katarina tended to Rico she suddenly, felt a presence nearby and brought her hand up. "Cross Barrier!" she shouted. Several feet in front of the group, a single red bar of energy appeared crossing the top of the cave to the ground. Then a second bar appeared on the wall and cross it. It was then that reddish energy spread out from the four 'square' opening to form the barrier, then the barrier became transparent.

She had brought up just in time as a few seconds later a single worm burst through the ground and slammed head first into the barrier. Katarina grunted as the force of the impact was transferred to her body, one of the straps on her breastplate snapped in the process.

The worm continued to hammer against the barrier, the force was enough to sent small shockwaves into their protected ward. _Damn it… despite all the power I have __I'm__ finding it difficult to keep the---- oh shit not more! _She grumbled as something very powerful slammed into the worm, pan caking it against the barrier. A crack formed in the top left corner, then another and another. "Shit! Barrier about to break!" A marine shouted, the rest of the squad raised their rifles.

Suddenly the worm was pulverized, what was left dissipated in the air. In it's place was Kalshion's shuttle, with him waving at Katarina. _Y….__You freaking__ show off! _Katarina yelled telepathically, causing Kalshion to flinch.

_Gee… sorry__perhapsI__ should---_ she heard him say before he stopped. Kalshion suddenly appeared beside her, his staff drawn. He then sprinted forward and flicked his wrist; his staff suddenly began two feet longer on either end as he wacked the walls. "Shatter Break!" he shouted as a power energy force was sent into the cave walls. Second's later blood strangely appeared from some of the opening in the walls, he just grinned, his sister just shook her head.

"We can't stay here," Kalshion said as he ran up to his sister and knelt down beside her. "Marines! Get aboard!" Kalshion ordered, the marines didn't need to be told twice as they maneuvered around the shuttle to it's rear entrance hatch. Kalshion lifted Rico's almost unconscious form and teleported her back into the shuttle, he laid her on a bed and hooked up several machines to her. Behind him, his sister appeared and brushed him aside. "Just get us out of her," she said as she took several small needles and placed them in Rico's arm.

Kalshion ran into the cockpit and into the pilot's seat. "Let's roll!" he shouted. "Oh no…." Sasha said, dreading the return trip. As he threw the shuttle into reserve, he felt a hard 'thump' as it hit something, "Sorry!" Kalshion shouted as he spun the shuttle around and flew down the tunnel. Behind him, a worm was pan caked against the cave walls, out cold by the sudden rear ending of a shuttlecraft.

He kept his speed up and flew through the tunnels, occasionally firing off the shuttles quad laser cannons in an effort to slow down their pursuers. As they approached the exit, Sasha breathed a sigh of relief, but then gripped the arm of the chair when Kalshion hit the accelerator and flew through the exit and out into the air. Behind him several worms used their tentacles in an attempt to grab him, but only managed to grab air instead as their forward momentum sent them careening into the forest.

"By the way, hope you like my present," Kalshion winked.

Back at the crash site, a miniature device no bigger than a can rested near the drop ship. At first it looked harmless, like any normal soda can, with the words 'Sola' etched on the side. Suddenly the 'lid' flew off and a purple smoke filtered out. Suddenly the tunnel was filled with a blast of superheated plasma that easily burned away the drop ship and anything in the area, including two worms that had ventured to close.

In the air, Kalshion could only smile as the worms tried to get to him. "Better luck next time, slimy pieces of crud…" he said as he arched the shuttle toward space. In orbit, he put the shuttle on autopilot and headed toward the back where Katarina was, "how is she?"

"Computer says she'll require immediate surgery once we get back, I'll have a Shuttle Tender standing by to take her back to headquarters for further treatment." She said with a heavy sigh and dropped into the chair, "you should get some rest when we back to the ship, we can continue our discussions tomorrow," he said as the shuttle suddenly lurched forward.

They could tell they were in warp by the 'pings' that were felt on the skin. While on board the command ship they didn't feel it due to the size, but on board the shuttle they did. "Sharia has already contacted medical so a team will be standing by to receive her," he said and looked over at Rico's now sleeping form.

Several minutes later, the shuttle appeared off the command ships starboard bow. The shuttle against the command ship looked like a speck; this speck continued along the length of the massive capital ship until it came to the hanger bays, then disappeared behind the closing bay doors.

Inside Kalshion spun the shuttle around so its bow would be facing out into space, or in this case, toward the docking bay doors that had begun to close while they were docking. The first person to leave the shuttle was Rico, her form on a stretcher and being hastily rushed toward an awaiting elevator that would take her to the medical deck.

"Marines, get some rest," Kalshion said and looked at the dog tags that one marine was carrying. He sighed and stretched his hand out toward the marine; the marine in question reluctantly gave up the dog tags. "No body?" he asked the marine, who shook his head. "I see…. At 1300 hours tomorrow we'll have a burial in space; I'll inform the family…" Kalshion said with a sorrowful sigh.

The marines all nodded and got up from their chairs and exited the shuttle. Katarina followed them out and onto the hanger deck, Kalshion joined her a few seconds later. They both strolled across the deck toward another elevator, this one had the letters 'VIP' splashed atop it. As they boarded Katarina staggered against the wall, "you ok sis?" Kalshion asked worriedly and placed his hand on her right shoulder.

She nodded and brushed his hand aside. "I… just used to much power back there, I can't explain how a mere bug was able to display so much brute force," she said between breaths. Kalshion couldn't answer it directly, so instead, he gave an assumption. "Perhaps they too had magic in their system? You also have to remember their size," he said.

A rhythmic chime came through the elevator as it reached the officer deck. Katarina and her brother strolled off the elevator and toward their single quarters. The twins, due to being family, shared the same quarters. Upon inside it was easy to tell it was also the largest on the ship, with a king size bed located under a large window that spread across the length of the wall to either side of the room. Several tables were up against sidewall with pictures and other assorted items.

As Katarina undressed and turned on the water to take a shower, Kalshion removed, his military uniform to reveal that he was wearing a black body suit beneath. He didn't bother to take it off and instead walked over to his desk and sat down, the screen came to life as if it itself had detected his presence. He then went through the normal routine of saying that the marine died an honorable death, but unlike most government organizations that had also ran the military, his was unique in that they actually explained how he died and what led to his death. He found that many of the families' appreciated the added information, even if in most cases it was considered 'gory' and 'too much information'

He settled for the last bit of his sentence. "I deeply apologize for your loss and hope that you will forgive us for taking your son into extreme danger, we only hope that you understand that he died a hero," Kalshion said to the computer, whom translated his speech into words on the screen. As he sat there, wondering what more to write, his sister said something that broke his concentration. "You going to take a shower bro or just sit there mull over what to write?"

With a sigh Kalshion got up from his chair and walked toward the bathroom, just then Katarina came out. "Sis…." He said when he noticed her naked form, "yes?" she said while rubbing the towel over her head to dry her chair. Kalshion his head and brought his hand up, causing a bathrobe to materialize around her body.

While she was drying off Kalshion took a quick shower and was out in under a few minutes. As he approached his side of the bed, he sat down and snapped his fingers, causing a pair of pajamas to suddenly appear around his body, replacing the bathrobe he had been wearing just a second ago.

"So, tomorrow we get to work on writing up the construction plans eh?" Katarina asked.

"Well, that and we have to continue searching the ninth planet for at least 'some' land to put the maglift space elevator on," Kalshion said. "We need a plot of land that's at least ten by ten kilometers, but I'll settle for anything," he said and laid down.


	4. Construction Begins P1

**Chapter 4**

Early the next morning Kalshion made his way to the bridge, most of the stations were empty and devoid of any life. While not all stations were empty, some did have personnel operating them; communications was always active as well as sensors and weapons in the event of an attack.

"Morning sir," the communications officer said. Kalshion looked at the man; he appeared to be in his late twenties, his face clean-shaven and his head bald. He wore a typical navy uniform but instead of the normal red lines that signified bridge personnel, his was blue which meant he was a part of the engineering staff.

"Morning Lieutenant, I take it you'll be our comm. officer for the time being?" Kalshion asked, walking up to the man's station. "Yes Sir, I heard from the doctor that Rico won't be back on duty and will be sent back to headquarters for further treatment," the LT said.

"Good enough, anything while I was asleep?" Kalshion asked, walking toward the center of the bridge. The holotank warmed and showed the gas giant he had sent alpha and beta construction fleets to, on the holo-display were several triangles depicting capital-based ships, while a large rectangle showed the station currently being constructed. "Alpha and Beta Construction Teams have already begun construction, they're finished the first part of the station but report that they are having some issues so it might take them a few days to get the second stage complete," the communications officer said.

Kalshion nodded, rubbing his chin. "Tell them to keep me informed," he ordered, the LT nodded and relayed the order. As he walked around the holotank, he heard the door to the bridge slide open, his sister walked onto the bridge wearing her normal attire. "Kind of slow this morning eh?" Katarina said as she scrutinized the hologram. "I see their coming along nicely, how long?"

"Roughly a week ma'am, provided no more delays happen," The LT said. "I see," Katarina said, pondering what to do next. "Did you already have breakfast bro?" Katarina asked, walking up to her brother who was still walking around the tank. "Yes, had myself a light breakfast before coming here why?" he asked.

"No reason, so, shall we head to the ninth planet and see if we can find some land? Sense it seems our onboard sensors can't penetrate the atmosphere?" Katarina said, glaring up at the ceiling. "Excuse me for not having advanced enough sensors," Sharia's voice spoke from an unseen PA system. She sounded insulted, if not angry at Katarina's comment.

Kalshion shook his head and motioned for her to take the helm. "Sis, take us to the ninth planet," he said and she nodded. "No problem," she smiled and brought the massive capital ship around. "Engaging warp in five… four… three… two… one…. Engaged!" she shouted just as the command ship slipped into warp.

The ship was only in warp for a few seconds before it came out in orbit of the ninth planet. The twins still marveled at how a water world could be kept together without much land. "Comm. Wake everyone up, I want everyone at their stations and running continuous scans of the planet, also switch to blue status" he said. The comm. officer nodded and made the ship wide announcement. A second later the bridge was bathed in a light bluish glow.

During times of exploration or when they were investigating worlds or new dimensions, the ship would undergo 'blue' status, which meant all the science personnel and officers were on station and running various scans. There were three different 'neutral' statuses and three 'combat' statuses. Green status was universal for both 'neutral' and 'combat' status, it meant the ship would run under normal routines, people would rotate in shifts.

For the last two combat, yellow alert meant the ship was on the defensive, combat crews were at the ready and personnel were made aware of possible attacks. Red alert was self-explanatory, but basically meant that all crew were at their battle stations and no one would get any rest until the alert was brought down.

For the last neutral status which was orange. Orange meant that the crews were off longer, many R&R, the ship would largely be deserted with only a skeleton crew. It's rare when they are not in dry dock and out in the galaxy or exploring other nodes, but common while in dry-dock.

In short order the bridge filled with personnel, most just had a rude awakening from their commander, while others seemed to have already been awake and were either eating or just doing something else before being called.

"I'm headed back down to the planet," Kalshion said and turned toward the bridge doors. "Want me to stay here and keep things going?" Katarina asked, her brother merely nodded before disappearing into the elevator.

"Hanger," Kalshion said and felt the elevator descend through the ship. "Sharia, you sure the planet is ninety eight percent water?" he asked her. "Actually, now that we're closer, I can easily confirm that it's ninety point four percent," Sharia said.

On a small pad that was up against the doors her avatar appeared. "Want to see the raw data?" she asked him but Kalshion shook his head. "No, but I might later so dump it to my terminal," he said. He felt the elevator slow and then the doors slid open. "Keep me apprised of anything that changes," he said and walked off the elevator and onto the flight deck.

With blue status active, most of the activity was in relation to several 'science shuttles', normal shuttle craft converted to small scientific research craft. While they lacked the shielding and armor of a normal shuttle, they made for it in their sensor package that allowed them to make in-depth scans of nebula's and other anomalies, of course, Kalshion's shuttle had all of that and more.

When he stepped on board he found Sasha running a systems check. "Even after my flying you still want to join me?" he asked her as he took a sit at the pilot's station. Sasha gave a weary smile and said, "Better than being stuck in a sim pod repeating exercises," she said.

Kalshion thought about it and smiled. "I guess you're right," he said as he primed the shuttles engines, the anti-gravity pods engaged and the shuttle lifted off the ground. "Tower, open bay doors," he said into his headset.

A green light appeared on the top of the bay doors as they began to slide open. The shuttle bobbed side to side as energy was being diverted to other systems, "we don't needs combat shields so…" Kalshion said and shunted power from the combat shields to more important systems. "We ready?" he asked Sasha who gave him a thumbs up, a few seconds later they were out of the hanger bay and into space.

Minutes later, they were flying several miles off the ocean, the view was gorgeous, the systems sun gave off a beautiful shine when the light hit the water. "Beautiful…." Sasha said as she looked out the window. "Man, they'll love this place," she said as she banked the shuttle to the right a bit. During the decent Kalshion had given her control, some flight time to make up for her not being in a sim pod.

Between the two of them, a holographic image displayed the ocean floor and what the shuttles sensors were picking up. For over fifteen minutes only a bluish field appeared, then suddenly a greenish blob appeared and began to draw itself on the image. "Picking up land," Kalshion said as he brought more power to the sensors. "Confirmed, we have land," he smiled and gave Sasha the coordinates of where the fly to. She nodded and banked the shuttle ten degrees to the left.

After five minutes, they saw land on the horizon. As they drew closer, they began to realize just how big it was. "It's a nice size, more than enough for the space elevator," Kalshion said to himself and continued to watch the holo-display.

As they drew closer, they were able to make out trees and other foliage on the island, the island itself was rather flat with only a few hills. Soon they were over the island and noticed that half of it was covered in lush green forests and ringed with a beautiful beach. From the air, Kalshion also noticed a large reef roughly five to six miles off the coast.

"Let's land," he said and brought the shuttle around and ascended toward the ground. As they approached, he made certain the ground was stable and that no unexpected visitors would appear while they were inspecting the terrain. With a satisfying 'thump' the rear hatch opened and the two of them exited the shuttle and walked around. The crisp ocean air made Kalshion feel like home, he stood there, breathed it in, and gave a satisfying smile. "I'm already liking this," he said and turned toward Sasha who was kneeling down and taking a soil sample.

She pushed some sand into a small tube and closed it, then placed the tube inside her scanner. The scanner came to life with data as it scanned the soil, then beeped when it was done. "Soil is clean," she said and looked back at the shuttle. She placed two fingers into her mouth and blew, making a whistling sound that summoned a small droid.

The droid floated across the terrain until it came to a stop just a few feet from Sasha. "Scan the area," she said and the droid gave a beep before making its rounds. When she turned back toward the Admiral she saw a transparent keyboard in front of him and several displays around him. "We haven't even been on the ground for five minutes and your already making plans?" she asked him before noting Katarina on one of the displays.

"What do you think sis?" Kalshion asked. On the display, Katarina nodded and glanced to her right. "By the way bro, the TSA would like an update on our progress," she said, "they asked us if we wouldn't mind someone from the TSA being down here to observe the construction."

Kalshion sighed. "I don't mind them sending someone but I'd rather not have any unauthorized personnel here," he protested and ran his hand along one of the displays. "I'm sending you some floor plans," he said.

"Got em, I like the plans. You sure you want to make the academy this size?" Katarina asked curiously. Kalshion nodded and said, "we already know that from the start the school won't be that big and that the student count won't be that large, but do remember that the academy will basically be a city within itself," he said.

Katarina sighed. "I know that bro, that's how our other academy is run. Anyway, I think you've got everything in order, if it's alright with you I'm going to accompany Rico back to HQ… I'm worried about her and it was my fault that she was placed in that situation," she said.

He shook his head. Katarina had always felt responsible for those around her even when she knew the consequences of her actions when it related to giving others orders. "Sure sis," he said and the display went blank before vanishing. He then opened another with the communications officer ,"Sir?" the LT said.

"Get a hold of Foreman Jas, tell him he made start construction on the space elevator and academy as soon as he arrives," Kalshion said. "He'll be arriving in just a few minutes sir, said he had to pick up some extra cargo from the TSA headquarters," the LT said before glancing to his side, "in fact he's here now," the man said, smiling.

In high orbit above the ninth planet, several tears in space appeared; through each tear a massive ten kilometer long ship appeared. The ships were commonly used in the Dragon Mercenaries for construction details, but had recently been upgraded with improved engines and shielding. The ships were only a kilometer wide; their middles sections were full of different sized bays that could carry well over a million tons worth of cargo. In this case, they carried prefabricated buildings for the construction crews and other necessities.

One of the massive ships was devoted strictly to the space elevator, it's bays full of the parts and prefab construction kits and long metallic tubes. Spindles of cable were stacked several feet high, each cable was roughly five feet thick with specialized casing to prevent wearing. In another portion of the ship were massive computer cores needed for the elevator's AI, while the cores were inactive, they already had an AI installed in them ready to get to work once he, or she, was brought online.

In the center of this fleet was the primary command and control ship; it was roughly half the size of the cargo transports but still just as ugly. On board was Foremen Jas, the architect behind the construction of the Dragon Mercenaries headquarters. The man was very good at his job, able to hide things within the construction of his buildings, it was that alone that allowed the twins to hide several particle beam lasers within their stations in places were an enemy wouldn't begin to think of looking.

"Foremen Jas, sorry for the wait," His voice spoke over Kalshion's headset. "That's ok Jas, I'm glad you could come. I'm transmitting the coordinates to you now," he said and initiated the data transfer.

Up on his command ship, Jas watched the data screen. He had a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up, despite a sign on the floor that said 'no smoking'. His bridge was rather small, if not cramped, there was barely enough room to maneuver around.

Much like the Dragon's command ship his own had a holo-tank, but it was half the size of the one that the Dragons used. Instead of using it to review the data, he just had it put up on the view screen. "Not bad sir, I'll have my men begin work on the both the elevator and academy. Which do you want me to put priority on?"

"The Academy," Kalshion said.

"Done!" Jas said and gave him a thumbs up before signing off.

Kalshion let out a satisfying sigh before placing his hands to his side; this caused the keyboard to vanish along with the displays. As he stood there it wasn't long before he heard the sound of a heavy engine, he glanced up and to his left and saw a massive craft ascending through the atmosphere and toward the island. It was a cargo tender, a large craft made for carrying cargo to and from a ship. It had four engine pods that allowed it to have amazing speed, but the engines were also used to breach the atmosphere of a planet.

As the craft landed several feet from him, he watched as the side doors opened to reveal numerous construction vehicles. Most of the vehicles were on threads despite them having the technology for hover-based craft, Jas had once told him that threaded vehicles allowed for better stability and he was right in most cases.

In the air, he also saw two corvette class ships. These corvettes were modified to be construction vehicles, where their turrets once stood was now long construction arms and boom cranes used to lift heavy objects. However, the corvette was also equipped with a gravity elevator, unlike the cargo tenders, the corvettes were the only vehicles in the fleet that could carry the cables needed to keep the space elevator tethered to the ground.

The corvettes just hovered in the air and gently lowered the spindles of cable toward the ground. As a testament to how heavy they were the moment they settled onto the ground they instantly sank several inches.

He then heard another vehicle arrive; this one carried the workers needed for the vehicles and construction project. One woman walked off the transport and strolled away from the ground and toward the center of the island, he recognized her as Jas's chief holographic building planner, in short she created the building plan utilizing holographic technology.

Behind her, a vehicle rolled across the ground until it came to a stop just a few feet from her. She looked around and nodded then walked over to the vehicle and pulled open a panel, she pressed several buttons. Suddenly a large greenish circle appeared roughly five miles from the vehicle, this circle started to morph into the holographic make up of the space elevator.

Kalshion was startled when a hologram to his right appeared; this one was merely a floor plan for the dormitory. Several more of these holograms appeared across a one-mile radius around him, some were small while others were big. "Like what you are seeing?" the woman asked when she walked over to Kalshion. He hadn't noticed her presence until he turned to look at her, "I am, never ceases to amaze me what you can do."

The woman just shrugged. "Awesome attempt at flattery , but these plans on merely basic. We have the space elevator already planned out so it'll take us a few months to build. The academy, however, is different. You have special plans for that, Jas is up to the challenge you have presented him. " she said, Kalshion couldn't tell if she was impressed and enjoying this, or just merely saying it to be professional.

"Well, just becareful ok? We do have a TSA official coming down here to 'inspect' our work but I plan on asking them to come in a week, think you'll have some done by then?" he asked her. The woman laughed; after she was done, she gave a broad smile. "Done? By that time we'll have most of the foundations complete and will already be half way done with the first dormitory, but we'll still have several more to go," she said and folded her arms.

He nodded and began to make his way toward his shuttle; Sasha hadn't spoken a word since the arrival of the construction teams. "Keep me informed," he said to the woman as he and Sasha boarded the shuttle.

On board the command ship, the hanger bay was silent. Marines wearing ceremonial uniforms stood in formation staring inward of the bay, in the center of the bay was a casket. Three different flags were draped over the casket, one was the marines nationality – the United States. The other was the Dragon Mercenary Flag, the flag was light blue with two eagles posing to strike at an attacking ship, one eagle had a sword and shield in its talons, the other had a missile.

The final flag was the Marine Corps flag. A bale of flowers and roses was present atop the marines national flag, to the sides of the casket were four men each dressed in his nation's Marine Corps uniform.

For Kalshion, this was a duty he didn't like to do, not because of what he had to say, but merely because it meant he had lost someone that could've gone home alive to their family. He had been given the normal United State's slate that stated what he would have to say in honor of this marine, he had memorized it by heart and spoke it in such a way that many of the marines in the bay, most not of his nationality, fought back tears.

Several feet behind the casket the holographic avatar of the man's wife and two kids sat on chairs; the wife was crying while her two kids sat patiently, but Kalshion could tell they were equally as upset to loss their father.

As he walked around the casket and placed his hand on the hard wood, he said. "May his soul find refuge amongst the stars, for he has lead a life of service to that which he believes in," Kalshion said and removed his hand and took a few steps back. The marines on either side of the casket gripped the handles and carried the casket slowly toward the shimmering blue field.

They slowly pushed the casket through the field and out into space where it drifted on a steady course toward the systems sun. Kalshion watched it before giving a salute, followed several seconds later by the rest of the marines saluting.

Suddenly the massive capital ship rocked as it's primary quantum cannons gave the marine a twenty one gun salute, in honor of his service, purple blobs of superheated energy fired out into space. As he stood there, he realized that the marines wife and children would appreciate the send off, for even though they were merely a holographic representation of themselves, on the other side they were clearly able to see the display thanks to the camera drones located outside the ship.

With a sigh Kalshion lowered his hand and treaded slowly toward the VIP elevator, the marines kept their formations until he disappeared and left the bay. Then their commanding officer had them leave for their station, the chairs that had the marine's holographic wife and children were now empty, devoid of any life.

On the bridge, Kalshion continued to watch the holographic sensor display. "I want those worms eradicated," he said to the battalion commander who was standing behind him. "Slow? Quick?" the commander asked.

He folded his arms. "If I wasn't it quick I'd glass the planet myself," he said his voice raised and harsh. The commander gulped and nodded, "very well sir, I'll make sure it's done," he said and left the bridge. Kalshion could feel the uneasy stares he was getting, many of the bridge officers had only seen this side of him once or twice. Some wondered if he was angry because of the loss of a single person, or because their own sensors hadn't picked up the intelligent life on the planet.

Flexing his fingers, he continued to watch the display. "No more loss of life," he said and spun on his heels and left the bridge.


End file.
